Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 539 



type of the genus Alca. This method of fixing the type 

 holds good with a large number of Liuneau genera. 



Opinion 38. The Latin names in Tunstall's ' Ornithologia 

 Eritannica/ 1771, are to be accepted so far as they can be 

 identified by the references given to Pennant or Brisson. 

 The well-known names Falco peregrinus and Falco cesalon 

 were both first proposed by Tunstall, and this '^ opinion " 

 will, we may hope, render them quite secure for the future. 



Opinion 48. Brehm's generic names published in ' The 

 Isis' for 1828 and 1830 are in some cases founded on ver- 

 nacular names or on species which he did not describe until 

 he published his " Lehrbuch Naturg. Vog." in 1823. Such 

 generic names as, for instance, Monedula, which was founded 

 on the " Dohle^^ or Jackdaw, and to which he attached three 

 specific names, all nomina nuda, cannot stand. 



Opinion 57. The names of birds published by Hassel- 

 quist in his ^' Iter Palsestinum " are not tenable. This work 

 was published in 1757 and is tlierefore pre-Linnean, but a 

 German translation by Gadebusch was published in 1762, 

 and it has been argued that the names used in the trans- 

 lation should be valid. The Commission are unable to 

 uphold this view. 



Opinion 61. The generic name given to the American 

 Ground Doves by Swainson is Chcemapelia. It is obviously 

 derived from ')(a[jbai = on the ground, and 7r6\eta=a dove, 

 and should be written Chamcppelia. Moreover, Swainson 

 corrected what is obviously a lapsus calami or a typographical 

 error in the index of his " Classification of Birds," published 

 ten years later in 1837. The Commission are therefore of 

 opinion that this generic name should be amended to 

 Cham<Bpelia. 



An Apology. — On page 336 of the last number of 'The 

 Ibis' (April), there is an allusion to Mr. C. Gr. Danford, 

 who was a Member of the Union from 1 874 to 1899, and 

 who has contributed largely to our knowledge of the birds 

 of Asia Minor by his papers published in ' The Ibis ^ between 



